Psychology and Criminology

Psychology and criminology together explore some of the most fundamental questions about why people do what they do, and what happens when they cross the boundaries that society sets. Psychology provides the scientific framework for understanding the mind and behaviour, examining cognition, emotion, personality, development, and the biological and social influences that shape how individuals think and act. Criminology uses those and other frameworks, including sociological and legal perspectives, to understand crime: why it occurs, who commits it, how it is defined and regulated, and what can be done about it.

At the University of Suffolk, this three-year full-time degree develops both disciplines in parallel, showing you how they illuminate each other. You will be introduced to psychological theories across the major areas of the discipline and learn to evaluate them critically, developing your own evidence-based understanding of human behaviour. The criminology strand then applies some of those same frameworks to deviant and criminal behaviour, examining individual motivations, social contexts, the criminal justice system, and the prevention of harm.

The combination is particularly powerful for understanding why people commit offences, how the justice system responds, and what psychological knowledge can offer to rehabilitation, prevention, and policy.

Suffolk's location and its connections to public services, voluntary organisations, and the criminal justice system in the region provide a context in which your academic learning can connect to real-world practice.

Graduates go on to careers in probation, the police service, social work, youth offending teams, victim support, forensic services, mental health, education, and the third sector. The combination is also well suited to those pursuing postgraduate training in clinical, forensic, or educational psychology, or to those moving into criminology research, policy, or academia. The British Psychological Society accreditation status of the psychology component should be checked at the time of application for those interested in the graduate basis for chartership.